Input: Board President Interview

William W.  has been a board member since 2010, and is starting his second term. Has been a property owner in the neighborhood for about seven years.  He is proud of his neighborhood service and in some respects still sees himself as a “newcomer” compared to other board members. Interviewed Tuesday, Nov. 1. Duration: 1 hr. 20 minutes.

Questions:
• The survey board of board members showed a near unanimous agreement that meetings are too long. What is the reason?
• Should the board be acting on more of its agenda items?
• Do you favor a more formal and business-like approach to meetings?
• What is your knowledge/experience with best-practice meeting facilitation?
• What do you believe would most help the board be more productive in handling community business?
• As board president, what are your particular concerns?

Length of meetings: One issue William would like to address is directing members away from “war stories” of past issues, but he recognizes that board members are concerned about repeating the “mistakes of the past,” such as a lengthy lawsuit against a neighboring community that cost $50,000 in legal fees.

Action items:  Items are often delayed either because the board has not enough information or the board chair does not curtain discussion. “[During] the last board meeting we had. . .a resident come who had a ‘beef’ with something the board was instructing him to do. . . and he wound occupying the first 50 minutes of the meeting. I should have given him 15 minute to make his case, and 5 minutes for questions and answers. I was caught off guard by that one but if I had thought more about it ahead of time, I could have saved us a lot of time at our board meeting.”

Business approach to meetings: William is trying to find a middle ground between the strict organization of other boards/his work experience, and the way the board conducts business: “I think our meetings are going okay. I’d like a little more order to them but because they’re a ‘volunteer’ thing (unlike office or work meetings), you’d like them to be a little more informal and relaxed. I like the idea of having some social feel to them but by the same token, occasionally we do get residents who want to address the board about an issue and I (we) get concerned that we might come off as too casual, after all we do a have fiduciary responsibility and we are often talking about people’s homes.  We’ve never been taken to task for this and I don’t think we have a reputation as a ‘care-free’ board. I certainly try to be accommodating and welcoming to residents who wish to address the board.”

Knowledge: He was previously president of a neighborhood association in another state and serves on the vestry/facility committees of his church.   He has had quite a few years experience in running boards and community organizations. As a government consultant, he is used to stricter organization of governing boards. This is the first time he has had to deal with covenants, however, and is unaccustomed to how contentious these issues can be.

Most helpful to productivity:  Electronic sharing of information, from management committee to the president, from the president to the board, from the board to the chair. Keeping members on task!

Findings: While he has a great deal of experience in serving on governing boards and leading them, William has never encountered a board that is under scrutiny from neighbors about issues evident in everyone’s daily life. He is seeking a balance between a rigid meeting (he uses Robert’s for his church vestry) and the free form of meetings now.